


Byun Baek’s Magical Adventure

by kaihanbitches



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Adventure, Alternate Universe, Fantasy, Former Members, Friendship, Magic, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-21
Updated: 2016-08-21
Packaged: 2018-08-10 03:19:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7828453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaihanbitches/pseuds/kaihanbitches
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Baekhyun's a 22 year old with a deadbeat job as a magician's assistant. He just wants a taste of real magic--and so he gets it. Written for alphataurus | Baekfest 2014.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Byun Baek’s Magical Adventure

It’s a hot summer day, sweltering heat making the distance distorted in visions of waves. Baekhyun was riding by on his tricycle with his blue shorts riding up his legs and his white shirt rolled up to his shoulders. Sunscreen forgone had left his skin with a darker tint of pink, something his mommy will definitely yell at him for later. Despite the sweat that sticks to their skin like a second layer of clothing, the boys in the neighborhood gather around the block to watch one of the older teens do magic tricks.  
  
It’s Tao, who has always been the most popular for being nice to all the younger ones instead of scorning them for being young. He’s wearing a plain tee with shorts of a peculiar patter in contrast to his usual leather jacket and ripped jeans, which is a nice change because it makes him appear more approachable. It’s one of the reasons why Baekhyun decides to join the group instead of biking away.  
  
Tao is more popular with the older kids than the younger, with his bad boy style and charismatic stare. Even the parents grudgingly like him despite his image because he’s a foreign boy who has courageously come to a different country for the sake of studying. It’s a surprise that he’s even here today at all when he could be hanging out with his friends or trying to keep up his scholarship. Not the rowdy little kids around here that Tao claims to also be his friends—but the friends that are around Tao’s age. Girls and boys alike vie for Tao’s attention, but he’s always paid attention to whatever he wanted to pay attention too.  
  
That’s cool, that’s why Baekhyun wants to be like Tao.  
  
Tao seems cool even when he’s complaining about how someone is clinging onto his shoulders too tightly. It’s easy to shove and complain to _this_ hyung because Tao will allow it, but when he raises a finger to his lips, silence falls as they all eagerly await his next words.  
  
Baekhyun is one of the younger and shorter ones, having to stand on the tips of his toes just to be able to have a slightly decent view. Just like every other kid, he’s curious about what the whole fuss is about.  
  
“Look closely,” he says. They all lean in, focused on his hands where two coins lay. It’s just two regular coins. Tao makes a show of letting everyone touch the coins, to feel the realness, before he clenches his hands tightly. Baekhyun gets one fleeting touch of warm alloy before the magic trick continues. He makes eye contact with Tao and smiles tentatively, beaming giddily when he receives a smile in return.  
  
“Now everyone count to three,” he urges. They all count hurriedly, loudly, and excitedly except for Baekhyun who stands by the side quietly and mouths the words. His heart is thudding in his chest even though he knows that the coins will disappear. Goosebumps rake Baekhyun’s arms and he plays it off as extreme anticipation, but he doesn’t get to dwell on it for long because Tao is revealing his hands.  
  
Tao opens one hand, a coin is still there.  
  
He opens his other hand—and there is nothing. Logically, he knew what was going to happen, but also logically, there was nowhere for the coin to disappear to. Tao is wearing something short-sleeved, so it couldn’t be up his sleeves and his hands hadn’t reached anywhere near his pockets.  
  
“Where did it go?” Murmurs of confusion erupt as hands start patting Tao everywhere for his second coin. Two flipped out pockets and two rolled sleeves later, Tao makes a noise—like he’s just remembered something.  
  
“What is your name?”  
  
He’s staring straight at Baekhyun, who flounders for a bit before he says, almost questioningly, “My name is Baekhyun?”  
  
“Baekhyun, I think I dropped something in your pocket by accident. Can you check to see if it’s there?” Baekhyun’s eyes widen in surprise, jamming one hand into his left pocket to find nothing. He jams his other hand into his right pocket expecting to find nothing, but his fingers brush something warm and round.  
  
He takes it out of his pocket and everyone is pushing to look at what’s in Baekhyun’s hand. It’s the coin.  
  
Baekhyun whips his head around to look at Tao, eyes widening in confusion. The hand gripping the coin tightens, the coin remains solid and Baekhyun can see Tao’s amusement at Baekhyun’s perplexion.  
  
“The closer you look, the less you see.” Everyone breaks out into applauses while Baekhyun tries handing the coin back to Tao who shakes his head. “You should keep it. You’re going to need it someday.”  
  
“Baekhyun’s just going to buy some gumballs with it later, you should just give it to me,” Jongdae whines. Gasping, Baekhyun waggles his hand at his friend.  
  
“No, I would never do that.” He looks up to Tao with wide eyes, as if it’ll convince Tao of his innocent thoughts.  
  
“I believe you,” Tao says, “I have no reason not to.” Somehow, looking into Tao’s eyes, he doesn’t doubt that even though he has reasons to.  
  
And just like that, Tao stands up and ruffles everyone’s hairs while they complain. “I have to go now, but I’ll be back before you even know it.” For some reason, Baekhyun’s heart aches.  
  
“Will you really?” His voice is mournful even though he knows Tao will come back. Tao always come back every week. Tao’s smile is painful; it’s similar to how Chanyeol looks when he sees a cat he can’t touch even though he really, really, wants to.  
  
“I’ll come back for you,” Tao says, sticking out his pinky. For once, his hands are free of obnoxiously large rings that have skulls and crosses on them. Baekhyun sticks out his smaller pinky and intertwines them with Tao’s.  
  
“Promises are very powerful,” Tao muses, “sometimes, they can even transcend time.”  
  
Right now, Baekhyun’s not sure what ‘transcend’ means but he thinks it’s a level four vocabulary word so it must be real important. He nods his head solemnly.  
  
Tao doesn’t come back next week, or the next. But somehow Baekhyun knows that it’s not the last he’s seen of Tao.  
  


÷

  
Dinner is a normal affair with one mother, one father, and one child. Baekhyun is that child that sits next to his mother and in front of his imposing father. His father is the one that has one can of beer in front of him, and one slightly crushed packet of cigarettes to his left. His mother is the one that has one string of pearls on her neck, and one set of freshly manicured nails from the afternoon. Baekhyun has one bruise from bumping his head on his side table this morning, and two parents that shower him in their lackluster love.  
  
  
He’s playing with the coin Tao gave him at the dinner table until his mother admonishes him for bringing _dirty_ things to the table, and she makes him put it away in his pocket and wash his hands for the second time.  
  
He doesn’t feel much of anything if he’s being honest. But he still says a quiet, “okay,” when his mother tells him with mild concern, “I think you’ve been getting into the wrong crowd of people.” In fact, all Baekhyun really does is roll his broccoli with his fork—even if broccoli doesn’t really roll. He knows he’s not hanging out with wrong people because those people make him feel good about himself. If anything, he’s probably hanging around the wrong crowd of people just being at home.  
  
They’re eating chow mein from microwavable meals that have been dumped unceremoniously unto clean plates with steamed vegetables on the side. Baekhyun’s certain that the vegetables are not fresh because he saw them being taken out of the freezer, but he’s also certain that they’re fresher than the microwaved chow mein that tastes like it’s been premade months in advance. It’s cheap and efficient when one simply does not have the time to come home and make home cooked meals for their growing children. He likes to think with damp excitement that he he’s merely adapting to the new culture of the current generation. People have to adapt to survive to their environment—conform to society; he has to conform, for society.  
  
“So, who’s paying the bill for next month’s rent?” He tunes out the sounds of his parents in favor of listening to the sounds of forks and knives scrapping ceramic plates until they blend into one dully screeching noise of false security.  
  


÷  
  
  
Oh his first day of high school, he trudges home with the reluctance of a person that would rather be anywhere else but where he’s intending to go. His parents will say things they don’t mean; his parents will ask him things that have answers they don’t want to hear. It’s all very repetitive and pretentious; the best way to make it stop is to say, “Everything’s fine.” Baekhyun will save his breath because he doesn’t feel like listening to half-hearted admonishments that tear down his soul even if his parents don’t know that it does.  
  
The first day of a new grade is nothing spectacular, people come and go all the time. There’s excitement buzzing because people are seeing people they haven’t seen in a while but that’s really not everything that is going on; Baekhyun can tell. If people really wanted to see each other then they would make the effort to see each other regardless of where they are. Maybe he’s just bitter but what he really thinks is that it’s just a chance for people to show off about their new clothes, new experiences in foreign countries, new ways that they’re better than everyone else.  
  
That’s why nothing really happens on Baekhyun’s first day of school. No one likes him enough to approach him but no one hates him enough to go out of their way to spite him after learning who he is during their initial curiosity. It’s kind of like being ignored without the underlying tension of emotions being bottled up. No one’s ignoring him but no one is noticing him either and it does feel a bit lonely but he’s not lonely enough to reach out to others. (There is also the possibility that he’s extremely lonely but too used to being alone to accept change when his highest form of happiness has always been a muted joy. He’s afraid of what true happiness might feel like.)  
  
Baekhyun has trouble blending in with everyone else because while everyone is trying their hardest to stand out, he’s just normal. He spent his summer sitting in his room, staring outside the window and wondering about what he could be doing if he had the money. He doesn’t want a fancy car, he doesn’t want a fancy phone, he just wants to maybe share a sundae with a friend and feed ducks stale bread at the park. Every day he wonders what would happen if he went outside and did something different. He wonders what would happen if he tried to live a little.  
  
His parents ask him about his day when he gets home, after his mother reminds him to put the shoes back on the shoe rack properly. So he tells him, even if it’s not like they really care.  
  
People think Baekhyun’s special because he’s been homeschooled until now. Sure, it’s a little different than being in school but that doesn’t mean he was a social hermit. So they think he must have loads of stories to tell because he’s _different_. Like he’s an entire species of his own. But that wasn’t the case at all; he had the kids in the neighborhood and that was quite alright. But they still pester him for stories because that’s what they do in high school, always nosing about in other people’s business.  
  
Baekhyun doesn’t really have much stories; he just has a tale of an old summer and an old coin to prove it. When it finally gets into their heads that Baekhyun is normal, they leave him alone.  
  
“Never did think you’d be like me,” his father grunts. _And thank god for that,_ Baekhyun thinks.  
  
The vegetables aren’t fresh. Routines don’t change and Baekhyun still has his coin sitting in his pocket at dinner table.  
  
“So, who’s paying the bill for next month’s rent?”  
  


÷  
  
  
Fast forward thirteen years and Baekhyun’s a twenty-two year old with a gig as a magician’s assistant to help pay for rent and college fees. He’s majoring in math, but he’s actually doing better in his Mandarin class than Calculus. _Who actually needs to study functions_ , Baekhyun thinks bitterly, when the only math Baekhyun’s applied to real life situations is how much beer can a magician have before he’s literally too drunk to be entertaining kids. He hates his job, he hates his life, and he hates how it seems like he can’t do anything about it.  
  
Today is one of those shit days where he’s too busy trying to settle payment options with a fussy mom to keep an eye out for Boss and his penchant for hiding flasks of whiskey in one of the hidden pockets of his coat. It’s when he hears Boss talking about magical juice that makes living with a shit salary do-able, that he knows it’s time to step in before their pay for the week turns into a double digit number.  
  
So Baekhyun steps in, gently ushering Boss away from his makeshift stage in the living room. “Hi, my name is Baekhyun and I am the—”  
  
“THE LOVELY MAGICHIAN ASSISANT OF THE GERATE—”  
  
“I’m Baekhyun and I’ll be filling in for him today,” Baekhyun says with a strained smile. He hates the fact that he only landed this gig because his hands looked awfully nice doing magic tricks; they also do balloon animals for an extra fifty dollars even though that’s the job for a clown. But no, this is not a magician’s job, this is a job for lowly entertainers that work at house parties catering to kids that aren’t even old enough to watch kissing scenes in movies. If Baekhyun’s lucky, sometimes he gets the kids young enough to think that Santa still exist and magic is unexplainably real; it makes him think that sometimes he’s contributing to young peoples’ happiness. Then sometimes he gets the shitty kids that just want to try to debunk every trick in the book.  
  
“Baekhyun-oppa,” a girl says, “what are you going to show us?”  
  
He pretends to think.  
  
“How about I show you a trick with two coins?” He smiles mischievously, wiggling his eyebrows like he’s sharing a secret with them.  
  
“But first, why don’t you tell me your name?”  
  
“Sulli! That’s a lovely name,” he praises. She smiles widely, proud of the name her mama gave her.  
  
“There are two coins in my hands, correct?” He shows them the coins, letting them touch it before drawing it back. He rolls up his sleeves, showing his bare arms and clenches his fists tightly.  
  
“Can you guys count to three for me?” They count in unison, one voice slightly off-beat. Baekhyun opens one palm, revealing the coin he had in his hand. While everyone has their eyes focused on his left hand, Baekhyun makes his other coin ‘disappear’ only to reappear behind Sulli’s ear. Too easy.  
  
“Oppa, can you do a trick with a rabbit? Can you pull a rabbit out of a hat?” Sulli claps her hands together, speaking excitedly with her friend Luna. The rabbit trick is one of the dullest tricks Baekhyun has ever encountered, or maybe it’s one of his most hated because he hates dealing with rabbit pellets and jumpy rabbits.  
  
“For that kind of magic, I might require some assistance from the magician himself,” Baekhyun says. As if on cue, Boss stumbles in with a loopy smile, smelling of cheap liquor and knockoff cologne.  
  
“And here I am,” Boss says. Baekhyun can already tell that this isn’t going to go well. Of course, instead of pulling out a rabbit, Boss pukes into the hat. Shrieks alarm the parents and Baekhyun’s just glad they aren’t charged for mental scarring.  
  
Back in the gaudy car decorated with poorly written text on the side as advertisement for this gig, Boss wipes his dirty mouth on the sleeves of his costume coat and hands Baekhyun his soiled hat. “Clean it or replace it, it doesn’t matter. I’ll ah—I’ll give you a bit more for your next pay. Think of it as a job done in advanced for your pay,” Boss says. Gritting his teeth, Baekhyun puts the hat in two layers of plastic bags and silently prays for a miracle to pull him through making ends meet.  
  
The thing about Boss is that he’s not a bad man even though he’s a terrible employer. Boss is just a man with a turbulent marriage due to financial issues and this was simply one of his sorry attempts at a get-rich-plan gone wrong because he doesn’t know shit about anything that isn’t easily looked up on the internet. Boss has kids, one in college and one in elementary school. Without Baekhyun, Boss would be nothing except a penniless man with a sorry attempt at being successful. (With Baekhyun, Boss is just a poor man with a sorry attempt at being successful with added aid. But at least they’re almost broke as opposed to flat-out broke.)  
  
“Yes sir,” he says, and he’s never felt so miserable in his life.  
  
The thing about every trick Baekhyun has helped staged so far, is that they all have a logic. There is a reason why it seems magical, and there is a reason why it is _not_. It’s not real magic, it’s not even an illusion; it’s just a trick of the eye. And while Baekhyun has disagreed with almost everything Boss has ever said, he has to agree with the familiarity every magician knows, “The closer you look, the less you see.”  
  
Magician magic loses appeal when it’s scrutinized as being fake. So the object of magician magic is to make sure the audience is focused intently on the trick that they miss the real _trick_ of the trick. It’ Of course while magic may not be validly proven to be real, Baekhyun still thinks that somewhere out there, it must be real. It may not be exactly how people imagine it, but Baekhyun assumes it would be breathtaking. _It has to be._  
  
Baekhyun drives Boss home, seeing as how he’s entirely unfit to drive. That just means that Baekhyun has to walk all the way home by himself. Luckily for himself, it begins to drizzle—and it doesn’t seem to be letting up anytime soon. He stops, inhales the stifling sting of cold. Energy seeps out of him in cloying drags that threaten to clog his throat and seep out of his eyes in the form of bitter tears. He hates his job, he hates his life, and he hates how life never seems to work in his favor no matter what he does. Thumbing a coin in his pocket, Baekhyun decides it’s time to brave the rain and go home.  
  


÷  
  
  
It had taken him several efforts to push his key into the keyhole when his fingers were shaking and numb and so terribly, terribly cold. The tips of his fingers were a gradient of shades of purple. There was little time to feel bad about shucking his wet shoes so sloppily when his body was on the verge of giving out on him.  
  
There’s probably something sacred about dry couches that Baekhyun is defiling by letting the wetness from his clothes seep into the interior as the clock in his kitchen ticks noisily. His wet socks prevent him from retaining any heat but it feels like so much effort just to take them off when every bone in his body is aching with or without his movement.  
  
Eventually, he has to toe off his socks and shrug off his coat. He heads to the bathroom and dumps all his damp clothes into the hamper after peeling it off his body like a wetsuit. The hot water feels like the temporary shoulder to cry on that he really needed. Even though it’ll rack up the bills he can’t afford, he sits down in his tiny tub and draws his knees up to his chin until the water starts becoming lukewarm.  
  
His mind races though his body is still. His mind is a flurry of chaos dulled and battered—it’s like graffiti drawn over layers and layers of graffiti until it becomes something incomprehensible—he doesn’t even know where to begin. At moments like this, he questions his life choices with a clarity his stubbornness cannot deny. There’s no future in magic unless you’re planning on going to Vegas, and even then it’s like a firm reaffirmation that magic is not real because the tricks just get trickier and deadlier and more dangerous. But are they any closer to being magical than Baekhyun is? Probably not.  
  
But does that make him feel any better?  
  
He scrunches up his shoulders, burying his face between the crooks of his elbows. _No._  
  


÷  
  
  
Baekhyun forgoes dinner and slinks his way to his room. He feels like it’s a monumental effort to trudge himself to bed, body refusing to relax the way he wants it to and focuses his eyes into blurring the edges until his head hurts a little. Most of the time, he wishes time would pass by faster but it seems to slow down for him.  
  
In his room, everything stops. It’s time for more thinking. Time is an idea that is created by humans. What if a million years—if that is what _years_ really is—passed by during the time Baekhyun blinked his eyes and a few seconds pass by the time he opens his eyes again from sleep? What if he’s dead when he’s alive and alive when he’s sleeping? What if he falls into a coma to find out that he’s actually falling _awake_ from one instead? Sometimes Baekhyun doesn’t understand himself and he’s not sure anyone else would either but he’s sure that he can’t be the only person wondering these thoughts because there are billions of people in the world and more than _millions of billions_ if he thinks about the people that haven’t been born and people that have already died.  
  
That’s the problem with people that think too much but don’t take action. Reality seems to be a distant prospect and fantasy begins to be a laughable possibility; but a possibility, _is_ still a possibility. The thing about fantasy is that greatness seems to be thrown at the main character at every end of the road.  
  
The thing about reality is that nothing ever happens—even if you want it to.  
  
He falls asleep with a frown marring his features, thoughts of bills and upcoming exams harrowing his mind.  
  


÷  
  
  
Baekhyun wakes up in the morning with a throbbing headache and hints of a fever. It’s a little after eleven; it’s not quite noon, not quite morning. He’s practically crawling on the floor, unwilling to get up or do anything even though there are things to be done. Before he can even think of everything he has to do, his aching stomach tells him that he has to brush his teeth and make breakfast.  
  
He sticks his toothbrush in his mouth while he fries a pair of eggs on the pan. He pokes his eggs around with a spatula while going through a mental checklist of what he has to do. He has to buy a replacement hat for Boss; the former hat turning a ghastly shade of discoloration, crusting and stinking up in his living room. It’s time had probably come around a good time as well, frayed with overuse. He also has to do his laundry and buy more groceries. Then he has to see if he has time to study, which should be a priority even though it isn’t.  
  
His phone rings while he’s plating his breakfast onto a dish. “Hello?” It’s his parents, checking up to see how he’s doing. He walks over to the kitchen sink and rinses. He stands there watching the paste go down the drain. He tells them he’s doing fine because he knows they really just want to nag about how he’s not really going anywhere in life yet. Plus, it’s the simplest answer because he expects the reply to be, “That’s good,” and whatever else they think they should say to be good parents.  
  
He knows they don’t really expect him to listen to whatever they’re saying for the hundredth time so he turns off the heat and puts away his toothbrush. At some point he says, “Well, it’s been good talking to you but I have to hang up now.” Sometimes he wishes that they called because they genuinely miss him but that might be too much to ask for. His eggs have started to cool.  
  
Some people eat their eggs with ketchup, some people eat their eggs with salt and pepper, and some eat their eggs with soy sauce. Baekhyun’s more about all the sweeter things in life if he can get it, so he adds syrup. It might be gross to some people but Baekhyun’s never really been like other people.  
  
He doesn’t leave the dishes in the sink afterwards, he’s a bit obsessive-compulsive about it. He washes what he used and he puts them out to dry on the rack. To him, it symbolizes the real start of the day.  
  


÷  
  
  
Where does one even go about looking for magician hats? Baekhyun put on his thickest coat, wandering aimlessly until he stops at a thrift shop. He feels better that it’s not incredibly shabby but it doesn’t look like it’s a place that could possibly break his wallet either. The outside of the shop could use a new coat of paint, it’s probably why it looks like there aren’t a lot of customers inside.  
  
He pushes the door, and a bell rings above his head like the ones he sees in the movies. The shop has a rustic feel to it, selling mostly trinkets instead of hand-me-down clothing. He prods around the front of the store, but no one greets him and it doesn’t even really look like anyone’s there. He checks again, but there is a sign in front of the door that says the shop is open. Baekhyun feels a bit uneasy, like he’s intruding but his eyes catch the perfect hat and he’d be dumb to let the chance slip away when he’s so sure that he won’t be able to find another one like it somewhere else. He walks over to it, inspecting it with his fingers. It’s a good material and it’s even well-made.  
  
He flips the hat over, turning it around and around but he doesn’t spy a price tag anywhere. He walks up to the front and nearly has a heart attack when he sees someone napping behind the counter. The flimsy nametag stuck to his shirt says that his name is Jongin. He’s eighty percent sure that person wasn’t there five minutes ago, but he’s not going to question it.  
  
“Excuse me, but do you work here?” The male opens his eyes, rubbing them blearily.  
  
“I guess you could say I own it.” Baekhyun’s skeptical; the kid looks like he should be in high school.  
  
“Right, okay. Anyways, I was wondering how much this costs?” He places the hat on the counter, where Jongin takes a look at it appraisingly.  
  
“This hat isn’t much use to me,” Jongin says, peering into the hat amusedly. He proceeds to hiss like he’s been burned and stares at the hat distastefully.  
  
“Look, can you hurry up because time is ticking and I have places to go and people to see.” It’s not necessarily true but he does have things to do. Jongin stares at him, dropping the hat on the counter and placing his face between his palms.  
  
“Hmm, I do think you and him will get along together quite nicely. He’s been looking for a friend.” Baekhyun stares at him weirdly.  
  
“Are you talking about the hat?” Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea because obviously the owner is insane, that is, if he is even the owner.  
  
“Of course I’m talking about the hat. Anyways, it’s yours. Just take it. I’m feeling like a nap? How about you?” Jongin blinks sleepily, yawning extra loud while making shooing motions at Baekhyun.  
  
“Are you sure?” Baekhyun’s already walking to the door though. He doesn’t feel like staying longer and he doesn’t feel like passing up the opportunity to have some spare change in his pockets.  
  
“I’ll see you later Baekhyun,” Jongin says. Baekhyun pauses; when did he ever tell Jongin his name? A shiver runs down his spine.  
  
“How?”  
  
Jongin laughs like he’s trying to muffle a full-blown laughing fit. “ _Magic,_ ” he says, complete with mocking jazz hands. Baekhyun’s three streets down, contemplating buying a cup of coffee and a stick of biscotti when he gets stopped at a red light. He was definitely interested but he’s never going to go back there again—that’s something he’s sure of. But somehow he believed Jongin when he said that he would see him later. But _then again_ , Baekhyun’s always believed in a lot of things that haven’t come true.  
  
The light turns and people start to move.  
  
The coin in his pocket jingles as he crosses the road.  
  


÷  
  
  
An hour later, he’s back in his apartment. A cup of warm coffee in one hand and a chocolate biscotti in the other. It’s the perfect indulgence snack and made his day three times brighter than it was at the beginning of the day. He puts the hat down on the living room table and goes to his room.  
  
Today he’s feeling productive, so he takes out his textbooks and stares at them. Blanching, his entire body feels like repelling himself away from the desk. Each page that he flips over is a sore reminder that he has so much to learn and so little time left to be successful. Not that Baekhyun’s old, but he’s not entirely young either. People he knows are getting jobs and internships and are several steps closer to becoming who they want to be. Baekhyun is a math major doing magician tricks at parties for kids.  
  
He swirls his biscotti in his coffee before taking a bite of his temporary sweet comfort. He works out the first problem sets and gets to word problems—it’s one of the things he dislikes the most. His eyes stare at the first word problem and he thinks, okay, the first train is traveling this fast and that train is traveling that fast _but what if_ a passenger decided to hijack the first train and the answer would be all wrong if textbooks weren’t supposed to have such definite answers. Baekhyun thinks he can’t be the only one that thinks up of different scenarios for icky word problems. He’s definitely not the only one that has looked to the back of the book for answers before solving the full answers.  
  
Feeling a headache, he closes his book and decides he’s had enough for today.  
  


÷  
  
  
Baekhyun walks into his living room, sits down on the couch and stares at his new purchase. Granted it was free, but it is still a very beautiful hat for something that didn’t cost him anything. It’s almost unsettling. Maybe someone was killed wearing that hat before? Maybe the hat is haunted?  
  
He picks it up, rubbing his fingers over the material. It feels sturdy enough, maybe a little worn but that would probably feel nice. Maybe the person that had it before had lice? That thought makes Baekhyun grimace, but after a second look, the hat still appears to be normal.  
  
“I don’t see anything wrong with it,” Baekhyun murmurs. Then a laughter floats through his apartment. Fuck. Basically. Just. He knew the hat was haunted and now he was going to die.  
  
“Oh my god.” It comes out as a half statement but also a half question and there might be an exclamation somewhere in there.  
  
The laugh is even harder this time. “ _The closer you look, the less you see._ ”  
  
And in that moment, Baekhyun hears with clarity where the sound is coming from. He peers into the hat and even though he knows it was empty just moments ago, there is now a man peeking through the hat, like the hat was a hole and he was just peering into another room. In a way it’s crazy, it’s so incredibly crazy that Baekhyun doesn’t even believe his eyes. It’s a startling realization— _it’s magic_.  
  
“So tell me, what do you see?” And that’s all he gets before the male runs out of sight. Laughing in disbelief, Baekhyun sticks a hand in and it goes all the way through and before he knows it, he’s falling. His stomach feels like it’s lurching up his throat but he doesn’t feel scared of falling at all. And he’s laughing because he’s happy; he’s laughing because his dreams are coming true.  
  
It feels like he’s been falling for an hour, suspended in air, but then it stops abruptly before he can even hit the floor—if there is a floor at all that is. And finally he is able to take in his surroundings.  
  
There’s not much to see. It’s just like a room except not a room because the ceiling is impossibly high and there just doesn’t seem to be much of a point in a room that’s too small to do anything except sit down and possibly have tea. Which is exactly what that room is for, probably. There’s a table in the middle of the room, polished mahogany wood with intricate designs lining the feet of the table. It’s the kind that has one sturdy stand that branches out on the bottom instead of the more modern version with four table legs. On top of the table is a lace tablecloth with a dish of rice crackers. It’s something you might expect from your grandmother’s house.  
  
The thought occurs to him that normally people return home after their adventures, but that’s all in stories and fairytales. This is completely unbelievable but it’s real enough. What if he’s never able to go back? He waits for the unsettling feeling to come to him, but it doesn’t, and that’s the most unsettling part of it. Quickly he stuffs a couple crackers wrapped in napkins into his pockets, stuffing one in his mouth just because. He figures that if he’s going to go on an adventure then he may as well have the energy to do so.  
  
There must be something wrong with the crackers because as soon as he finishes one, it leaves him feeling bloated and a bit dizzy. He closes his eyes for a couple seconds and before he knows it, he’s shrunken.  
  
It’s an entirely new perspective. He has to look up at everything and the top of the table seems unreachable. He sees all the things he hadn’t seen before—like the _dust bunnies_ that look like they are progressively coming closer to him. Considering he’s the size of a small mouse now, that bunny looks like a miniature Godzilla and he should probably run before he inhales a year’s worth of dust.  
  
It’s coming incredibly fast and all he can feel is fear. When he expected bunnies to come out of the magician hat, he didn’t actually think any of them had the capability of running him down. Actually, since he didn’t even know this could actually happen, he’s not expecting anything at all and he’s left sorrowfully wishing he brought a stick of carrot. (Do dust bunnies even eat carrots?) Instinctively, he raises a hand up to futilely defend himself but then as soon as it happens, a blinding light flashes. The bunny stops, startled, before changing directions.  
  
Baekhyun’s hands tingle and he looks at them in wonder. What did he just do? What is he even capable of? It’s exciting, and he knows it could be dangerous, but that just means he’s even more excited because this is an _adventure_ and he hasn’t had one of those in a long time.  
  
However, what exactly is phase two of this adventure? When he fell in, he hadn’t exactly seen any doors. That’s the thing though, that was when he was big; now he’s small. He might not be able to see much of what he saw before, but he’s able to see much more of what he _didn’t_ see before.  
He sees a small door at the base of the table. From his size now, as he looks up, the table looks even less like a table and more like a giant tree.  
  
He opens the door and embarks on something new.  
  


÷  
  
  
The room is dark even though it’s illuminated by a million little orbs of light. This is what he expects space to look like if he were able to travel there. It’s beautiful even though there’s not much to look at. He peers into an orb, it’s like looking straight into a lightbulb and he can’t stare too long, but it’s beautiful all the same.  
  
“Hello, I’m Luhan,” a somewhat familiar voice calls. Baekhyun whips his head over. It’s the man from the hat, except now he’s full sized—or as full sized as one can be for a person that lives inside a table. Is it even a table though? Because this isn’t what he would expect the inside of a table to look like.  
  
Luhan laughs, and he must have voiced his thoughts out loud because he replies, “Well this wouldn’t exactly be what the inside of a hat would look like either, right?”  
  
No, he thinks, because nothing normal would look like this or be like this or feel like this. It’s nothing short of amazing at every turn. He shakes his head and comes closer when Luhan motions him over with excited hands. It’s more accurate to say that he floats over to Luhan, who seems to be able to move his body closer just by beckoning him with his fingers.  
  
On a closer inspection of Luhan, Baekhyun deduces that Luhan looks just like a human. Aside from his non-standard clothing, he looks like someone that could be Baekhyun’s neighbor or fellow classmate. Luhan is admittedly good looking though, like he could be idol. But even without looking very closely, Baekhyun can sense that Luhan is other-worldly like he has a different level of wisdom that Baekhyun could never fathom.  
  
“So, what brings you here?” Luhan swirls all the orbs in the air with a flick of his hands, glancing at some of them fleetingly. Baekhyun blinks, not sure what to say.  
  
“You brought me here,” Baekhyun says. Luhan raises an eyebrow.  
  
“Did I bring you here? No. You came here yourself,” Luhan says.  
  
“But you _lured_ me in here!”  
  
“ _No_ , I didn’t. I just appealed to your sense of curiosity.”  
  
“Isn’t that the same thing?” When Luhan laughs, his eyes crinkle and his jaw drops wide open. It’s frankly a little scary.  
  
“No it’s not. Because it’s up to you whether you choose to come or not. I can’t be helped if people fall into temptations.”  
  
“What are you trying to say?” Baekhyun blushes hotly, and he’s starting to get a bit angry because this adventure is not going as smoothly as he would like. It’s like Luhan is just toying around with him.  
  
”That I’m just too charming? Just kidding, I’m _saying_ you came here on your own. While I’m fully able to give you what you want, you should realize that your actions are based on your own decisions. I’m not going to decide for you if those decisions are good or bad, but I’ll help you get what you want if I feel like it. And you know what those humans say: _’Curiosity killed the cat.’_ ”  
  
“So you’re saying you can give me what I want. Do you even know what I want?” Luhan smiles, doe eyes piercing right though him.  
  
“Of course I know what you want. I know what every magician wants. Why else would you be here?” Luhan says.  
  
“So what do I want?” His fingers are casually clasped around the coin in his pocket, but his heart is thumping anxiously in his chest. It’s not that he doesn’t know what he wants, he does, but rationally there are so many other things he needs that could possibly outweigh what he really wants. Ideally, he could ask for more wishes or for a hundred billion dollars, but Baekhyun is pretty sure Luhan is not a genie. (He actually looks more like a rabbit.)  
  
“Magic, of course.” Baekhyun can feel his heart thudding and soaring at the same time. It’s everything he’s been searching for his entire life and it feels way too anti-climactic for it to just be given to him.  
  
“Okay, I guess I’m ready.” The disappointment must show in his voice. Maybe Luhan that he’s not just looking for magic—he’s looking for an adventure, for enlightenment, for happiness, and maybe even a purpose. If all goes well, maybe he’d even find someplace he belongs.  
  
“Alright,” Luhan says. He fishes something out of his pocket. It’s a pocket watch. Baekhyun reaches out for it but Luhan dangles it out of Baekhyun’s reach, waving it around tauntingly around his head.  
  
“You didn’t think it was going to be that simple right,” Luhan asks. Baekhyun frowns, because he did.  
  
“I want something in exchange of course. Preferably something pretty and shiny. Maybe even something of value?”  
  
“I’m a college student, nothing I actually own is of value unless you’re interested in textbooks.”  
  
“Does it look like I have a use for textbooks? Before you can answer that question, no, I don’t. Magic is always strong when you can place value into something. Value as in money, which humans do a lot, stores belief that a flimsy piece of paper is worth something right? Is it still magic? I guess it’s a type of magic, but it doesn’t seem very magical, does it.  
  
“Magic is composed of four components: belief, confidence, instinct, and ability. You need all of those to be able to do magic. Belief that something is able to do this or that and confidence that something is able to do this or that _well_. I can’t teach you magic because those are all things you should gain on your own without crutches.  
  
“The magician is the one with the abilities and instinct, those are skills that have to be learned on your own. And while a magician should have belief and confidence in himself, he should also be able to instill that in objects and people. Any object that has those two requirements is considered valuable.”  
  
Baekhyun mulls over the information, not quite sure if he gets it. “So what do you want from me?”  
  
“Something of value of course. And I believe that you have something you consider extremely valuable.” Luhan points to his pants, specifically to the side where his coin is tucked into his pocket. For once, Baekhyun is hesitant. It’s just a coin, but it’s a coin that has helped him relax in hard times. It’s a reminder of the reason he wants to be a magician and it keeps him feeling that Tao-hyung will come back one day even though it’s been _years_.  
  
“Does it have to be this one?” Baekhyun blanches, gripping the coin in his hands tightly.  
  
“It’s the only thing I want,” Luhan says. At this point, Baekhyun can refuse and try to go back, or he can accept the offer and experience real magic. Surprisingly, Baekhyun realizes that worth is quite different to every other person and he finds himself hesitating.  
  
He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath.  
  
“Okay,” he says and he can feel the regret seeping in him like a napkin sinking into the sea as he opens his fist.  
  
“Great,” Luhan says. The coin floats out from his palm and a pocket watch deposits itself into his hand. He turns over the cool metal in his hand. It’s simple looking, but it looks heavier than normal. Instead of the normal one side, the watch looks like it opens from both ends.  
  
“So this is magic. How do I use it?”  
  
“It basically works like the hat. On the front side, if you open it, it’ll take you back here to me. On the back side, it’ll take you any world you want to go. But there is a catch. You can choose only one world.”  
  
Luhan swirls his hands again, dimming the lights and Baekhyun sees that they’re not just balls of light, they’re worlds and he’s looking into each and every one of them. He hesitates.  
  
“Any specific requests?”  
  
“Can I say I want to go to the world Tao is from?” Luhan perks up, suddenly realizing why the coin looked so familiar.  
  
“Taozi~? Of course, I’m a magician. Almost anything is possible.” The orbs float away until one remains. It looks like medieval Earth, but then he sees people doing magic. He leans in closer, and he sees two men running away from people. But then he sees one of them is actually flying and he gasps and _he knows_ this is where Tao-hyung is from.  
  
“I want to go here,” Baekhyun says.  
  
“Sure? Last chance to back out,” Luhan says. Baekhyun shakes his head, he knows this is where he’ll find his adventure.  
  
“Good choice,” Luhan says, “I’m from EXO Planet too.”  
  
He opens the back of the pocket watch. A clenching feeling in his gut appears just as quickly as it disappears.

He gasps, falling into sturdy arms.

“What the fuck? Kris, you’re not supposed to pick up strays!” Blearily, Baekhyun realizes that he’s on the move. He’s also fifty feet into the sky. Squeaking, Baekhyun clings on tightly to the person that’s carrying him. The man that noticed him first is running on the top of buildings, long legs allowing him to do even longer jumps. Men in armor are chasing them on the ground, keeping their eyes on them, although they don’t seem to be carrying weapons.

“You think I chose this? Who are you?” Baekhyun can only be grateful Kris doesn’t decide to drop him. From what he can see, he’s in a bustling marketplace. The commotion draws attention, people shrinking back as they try to avoid getting their goods smashed in the conflict. He doesn’t have the time to leisurely look at all the foreign trinkets when he feels the panic of the chase.

“Sorry, I’m sorry,” Baekhyun says, babbling about how sorry he is. They go into a sharp corner, and the man covers his mouth with his large palm. Instantly Baekhyun quiets. He forgets to breathe until the guards disappear. A small fire appears in the darkness, glowing faintly.

“So, I wonder whose idea it was to run away from their family without money or food,” he says. Kris scowls.

“I didn’t know you’d have _nothing_ , Chanyeol,” Kris squawks indignantly. Baekhyun stays silent, watching as they squabble back and forth until Chanyeol gets so angry the flame gets bigger and brighter until Baekhyun’s flinching from the heat.

“Let’s forget about it for now,” Chanyeol says abruptly. He looks at Baekhyun. “So who are you? Are you one of the guards in disguise? Do you need to be disposed of?”

Baekhyun’s eyes widen, horrified at the thought of being burnt to an unrecognizable crisp in the alleyway of world that isn’t even his own. He makes a strangled noise of distress at the thought of dying so soon.

“Chanyeol, stop that. Can’t you see he’s scared?” Kris shields him protectively from Chanyeol’s flames. Chanyeol scowls, but he dims his flames anyways. Baekhyun’s terrified but even he can see the pout that settles itself on Chanyeol’s face at being scolded.

“You’re just saying that because he looks like Ace,” Chanyeol grumbles. Considering Kris doesn’t deny it, Baekhyun’s glad he looks like Ace (whoever that is).

“Look, why don’t you go home,” Kris says finally, “And I’d appreciate it if you didn’t tell anyone you saw me here.” Chanyeol presses his lips in an impatient frown.

“Can I stay with you guys? Please? I don’t have anywhere else to go,” Baekhyun says, bringing out the puppy eyes. Kris hesitates but Chanyeol is already mouthing _no fucking way_.

“Does he look homeless to you? There isn’t even dirt on him,” Chanyeol hisses, “I’m pretty sure he’s trying to scam you.” Chanyeol’s eyes zero in on Baekhyun’s hand, and he grabs it harshly. An intricate design is laced over the back of Baekhyun’s right hand—it wasn’t there before.

“He’s a scam,” Chanyeol says, “he’s lying to us— _to you_.”

“You are a sorcerer?” Kris sounds put out but Baekhyun couldn’t be happier even though he doesn’t really know what it means.

“I’m not, I’m a magician? But not really, I can’t use magic.” Kris frowns, staring at the mark on his hand. Baekhyun tries to shy away from the attention but Chanyeol refuses to let Kris acknowledge anything expect the marks.

“Is it a bad thing?”

After a moment, Kris replies, “No, it’s not.”

“It is for us. _You_ are dangerous to us.”

“That’s what you think about everyone,” Kris says dryly.

“Who are you going to trust? Your best friend? Or a stranger you just met?” Kris frowns, obviously no one was expecting this situation to happen in the first place.

“I trust my own judgment, and I’d be really happy if you could trust in me too. Besides, he looks harmless.” Baekhyun nods furiously. He can already tell Kris has won this fight though, just by the way Chanyeol’s shoulders droop.

“What is your name, unwanted heathen,” Chanyeol demands. Kris elbows Chanyeol lightly, a frown on his face.

“Baekhyun,” he says, nodding when Chanyeol introduces himself and Kris.

“Okay, let’s get out of here first.” It’s not safe to stay in one spot for too long when you’re on the run.

÷

  
Kris can’t carry two people at once, so they sneak out when the coast is clear, hiding in a tea shop. Kris and Chanyeol do their best to cover their faces with the brim of their cups, trying to stay as inconspicuous as possible. Baekhyun has nothing to hide. He looks more like a tourist than anything (which he is, technically).

“We leave after the sun sets,” Chanyeol says, “The guards won’t be looking for us by then. They’ll try harder to catch us when the sun is setting but they’ll believe we’re long gone by the time the moon is up.” Baekhyun doesn’t argue, silently sipping his cup of tea while trying to hide his smile. He feels a bit guilty since it’s out of place for the situation but being thrown into an adventure the minute he fell into this world was fate. Chanyeol taps his wrist, pointing to the markings and Baekhyun carefully covers it up with his sleeve. Chanyeol’s face relaxes a bit.

Chanyeol may not like him now, but Baekhyun can’t help but be grateful that he’s looking out for him at least. They stay there, chatting under the breath about where to stay and how to get food. Baekhyun loots through his pockets. He didn’t have the foresight to bring anything with him since he was still at home until everything happened.

Laying everything down on the table, Kris has several chains and rings that could be of value. Even the clothes he’s wearing could give them some spare change, but with the biting winds it’s probably better to keep them than to sell right away. Chanyeol has two concealed daggers and a handful of pretty looking coins that Baekhyun thinks would be the currency of this world. However, Chanyeol’s clothing doesn’t look like they would be as valued as Kris’ clothing.

Chanyeol bites his lips, nodding at Baekhyun. “What do you got?”

“I have a pack of gum, some crackers, and some lint,” Baekhyun says. His heart clenches, knowing full well he also has the pocket watch but that’s not something he can easily pawn away after exchanging it for his most valued possession.

“Gum?” Chanyeol looks bewildered, poking at the packaging with the tip of his fingers. Kris looks just as interested, but he doesn’t touch it. Baekhyun rips open the pack, there’s five pieces inside. He hands a stick to Chanyeol and a stick to Kris. He’s not sure why he expects them to know what to do with it, but he almost chokes on his tea when Chanyeol waves it around like it’s supposed to do something.

“This thing is useless,” Chanyeol says finally. So Baekhyun takes out a piece for himself and he unwraps it before sticking it into his mouth. He chews a couple times before motioning them to try it for themselves. Kris unwraps it, sniffing it before taking a bite into the gum. He chews and sticks the rest into his mouth, confusion written across his face. Seeing as how Kris hasn’t died yet, Chanyeol sticks the whole thing into his mouth after unwrapping it.

“I don’t see what’s so good about it,” Chanyeol says, but then the minty flavor hits him and his eyes widen comically.

“It tastes like mint but it’s chewier than pig’s intestines,” Chanyeol gasps. Baekhyun grins, wanting to laugh at their childish expressions as they try to describe how it feels to chew gum. Chanyeol chokes and Kris has to pat him on the back a few times before Chanyeol can breathe again. Baekhyun spits his tasteless gum into his wrapper and he balls it up, tilting his head questioningly when they stare at him in confusion.

“What?”

“Why did you spit out your food?”

“Oh, you don’t eat that,” Baekhyun says. Judging by the look of horror on Chanyeol’s face, he should have mentioned that sooner. Tears are welling up in Chanyeol’s eyes as he tries profusely to gag out the offending piece of gum.

“You’re not supposed to eat it, but you won’t die if you do,” Baekhyun says hurriedly when Chanyeol starts moaning about how he knew talking to strangers was a bad idea and how he’s going to die before he even gets to meet his soul mate.

“Chanyeol, he just said you weren’t going to die,” Kris says, even though he hurries to spit out his gum before he can swallow by accident.

“How do I know that?”

“You can trust me,” Baekhyun says.

“Prove it.” Pursing his lips together, Baekhyun unwraps a fresh stick of gum and starts chewing it.

“Are you mocking me” Chanyeol squawks. Then Baekhyun shows him the wad in his mouth before he swallows it. Kris looks at Baekhyun in horror. Baekhyun grimaces, gum really is hard to swallow.

“Why did you do that?”

“If Chanyeol dies, I’ll die too but that won’t happen. There’s not much I can do to prove it, but I’ll try my best.” Baekhyun says it with so much sincerity that Chanyeol flushes, crumpling up the wrapper absentmindedly. Chanyeol doesn’t know what to say to that, but Baekhyun feels more than he hears his acceptance when Chanyeol pours him a second cup of tea.

Kris notices it too, so he nudges Chanyeol with a sly grin while Chanyeol scowls hotly. Baekhyun stifles his laughs, and for once he’s feeling happy.

÷

  
They’re all amiable with each other by the time it gets dark. No one asks each other about their backgrounds, even though Baekhyun assumes Chanyeol and Kris already know each other, but they learn how to get along. Chanyeol has his arm slung around Kris’ shoulder and a hand on top of Baekhyun’s head. Baekhyun complains like he doesn’t like it, but they can all hear the joy in his voice at being accepted so easily. In a way they all didn’t have a place to stay and that was something they could agree on, and so Chanyeol had proposed that they all should find a place of their own because they were basically a band of misfits. Baekhyun had readily agreed and Kris was agreeable to most things Chanyeol proposed anyways, and so they became a trio.

Of course, as their luck would have it, an overly eager guard spies them and yells out that he’s found them even though most of the search parties were already officially over for the day. They run for the forest, but the thing is that there’s less places to hide and they eventually have to split up to lose their pursuers. Kris and Chanyeol dart out quickly, maneuvering through the forest while Baekhyun starts to stumble in his panic. He knows he’s not going to make it.

Someone catches him, catching him by the hair on his head. Whimpering, Baekhyun shuts his eyes tightly as he braces the impact of being shoved into a tree.

“Where are they,” his captor roars. Knowing how badly Chanyeol wanted to leave, it takes Baekhyun two seconds to decide to spit in the guard’s face. He probably deserved the punch that followed but that doesn’t make it hurt any less. Baekhyun crumples to the ground, grunting at the kick that lands by his ribs.

“Don’t you dare touch him,” Chanyeol growls, sending a wave of angry flames over. Baekhyun lets out a breath of relief. As much as Chanyeol is an intimidating enemy, Chanyeol also seems like a fiercely loyal friend. Chanyeol wrestles with the guard, throwing as many blows in as he can. He’s a series of wild swings but they all pack a hard punch.

Kris comes back to see what’s holding them up, joining in the fray but no one dares fight too hard against him. Chanyeol wheezes, dropping to the ground at the unexpected appearance of a knife.

“You’re not supposed to use weapons,” another guard warns but the damage is already late.

“Ah, whatever. It’s not like _he’s_ the Prince anyways.”

“No,” Kris says, “but he _is_ the Prince’s friend and you had better leave before he gets angry.”

They dumbly charge at Kris anyways, sure that they can overpower him with number. Seeing the glint of blood in moonlight, Baekhyun shrieks, “STOP IT,” with a hand thrust out in the general direction of the fight.

A bright light bursts in the middle of the forest and it’s enough to blind the guards temporarily. They clutch at their eyes, hands blindly groping for something familiar.

“Let’s go,” is what Kris says before they scramble away. Baekhyun’s scared. Kris has Chanyeol slung over his back and he flies in an attempt to not jostle Chanyeol too much. As for Baekhyun, he has to go by foot but the reason his heart is pounding is not because he’s running. It’s the second time he’s ever done something like what he just did but it doesn’t seem like something he can control.

÷

  
When they get to an open clearing, Kris starts a fire. He frowns. “It’d be a lot easier if Chanyeol could do it.” Weakly Chanyeol sends a spark over to the pile of woods. There’s a bit of a smoke but it’s not much of a fire.

Baekhyun tends to Chanyeol, ripping up fabric from the hem of his shirt to make a makeshift bandage on the gash on his chest. Kris goes out to find more scraps of dry wood.

Chanyeol has similar markings to the one on Baekhyun’s hand, but his looks like a bird with its wings spread over his heart. He doesn’t ask, but maybe that was why Chanyeol didn’t want to trust him. Maybe the markings mean something. Chanyeol cracks an eye open, whining about how Baekhyun’s tying the wound too hard.

“Why did you come back for me?” Chanyeol snorts like Baekhyun’s just asked a funny question.

“If you die, I die. I can do at least that for a friend too,” Chanyeol says. But it’s so stupid because swallowing a dumb piece of gum is nothing like taking a sword to the chest.

“You could have died,” Baekhyun says, and suddenly his adventure isn’t the rose-tinted envision he had before.

“Yeah, shit happens,” Chanyeol says nonchalantly. “It’s happened to me before.” Then Chanyeol grunts, fighting to sit up. Baekhyun sees long scars decorating Chanyeol’s back. He feels bad about trying so hard to make Chanyeol trust a random stranger and maybe he had every reason to not trust Baekhyun. It’s that moment that Baekhyun makes a promise to himself that he’ll do his very best to never betray that trust.

“Shit happens to me too,” Baekhyun says vaguely. He hasn’t ever been in a fistfight or been terribly emotionally scarred or anything like that, but he has been living miserably for most of his life so he supposes that shit like that can happen.

“Yeah it sucks,” Chanyeol says. He takes out the last piece of gum from the pack, throwing the wrapper and packaging into the fire before breaking it in half.

He offers a piece to Baekhyun and they chew in peaceful silence.

When he feels well enough, Chanyeol cups a small burst of flame in his palms and lights up a fire. Kris comes back not too long after, complaining about how he did work for nothing. Chanyeol sticks his tongue at Kris, who sits beside Baekhyun and they squish him in the middle. Kris complains about the lumpy flooring and Chanyeol complains about Kris’ complaining until they all fall asleep curled by the fire.

÷

  
The morning after leaves Baekhyun clinging to Chanyeol’s heat as Kris desperately looks for a good source of water. Only it’s not to drink, Kris needs to find a place to wash his face. Baekhyun wins no awards for trying to look good in the morning, and grunts in response.

Chanyeol wakes up later, laughing at Baekhyun’s face swollen from sleep. They both have gum in their hair. Chanyeol flattens his piece down like a sticky hair accessory. “You are basically disgusting right now,” Baekhyun says, playing with Chanyeol’s face. Chanyeol laughs right back at Baekhyun, pointing to the line of drool drying up on his face. They insult each other back and forth until Kris comes back, freshly washed up.

“How’s it going, Beauty Queen?” Kris sends Chanyeol a hard look.

“You know it takes time to look good,” Kris says. Chanyeol leans back, throwing a burnt stick in Kris’ general direction.

“Who is actually going to look at you,” Chanyeol asks. Kris shrugs.

“ _Everybody_ looks at me.” Chanyeol sticks his tongue out and rolls over Baekhyun in his haste to stand up.

“We all know I’m the most handsome out of all of us, though. And obviously I’m also the most brilliant so I’ll catch breakfast,” Chanyeol sing-songs.

“Don’t burn it into a crisp before it gets here,” Kris says flippantly. Chanyeol waves his hand, like he’s heard it a million times before already. Baekhyun stands up, letting Kris lead him to the river. It’s not that far of a walk, but it would probably be a lot faster if they flew. The only thing about flying in the forest is that it’s tricky to avoid trees unless you’re all the way up and Baekhyun’s not sure if he feels comfortable doing that.

“So, I know we don’t really talk a lot about it, but I think we deserve to know what you can do. Especially after last night.” Despite Chanyeol being the one to take the lead of their actions most of the time, Baekhyun knows that Kris is the one that leads Chanyeol and grounds him so that they don’t make too many bad decisions.

“I’m not saying I don’t trust you, but I need to know that trusting you is the right decision,” Kris says. Baekhyun thinks, maybe Chanyeol has more of the physical scars but Kris looks so vulnerable that maybe he’s hurt in other ways that aren’t as visible.

“Actually, you’ll have to trust me when I say that I really don’t know. Will you believe me if I say I’m not from this world? I didn’t even have real powers on my world. We call it Earth, by the way? Do you have one of those?” Baekhyun laughs nervously at Kris’ incredulous expression.

“Another world? Why would there be any other worlds other than EXO Planet?”

“I thought that way too. There’s no other worlds other than Earth and its planets and galaxies to me. EXO Planet doesn’t exist in my world but it does exist, doesn’t it?”

“So why are you here? Or more like, how are you here? Is that your magic?”

“No, Luhan’s magic brought me here.” At those words, Kris stills. Baekhyun lights up at the sight of the stream, kneeling down to wash his face.

“Baekhyun, how do you know Luhan? He doesn’t _exist_. He’s a fairytale.” Baekhyun pauses.

“What do you mean?”

“How else do you want me to say it? A person controlling all the worlds? No such person exists.”

“But I found him. I bought the hat that he came from in a store.” Kris laughs slowly, like Baekhyun’s telling a very unconvincing joke.

“It’s _true_ ,” Baekhyun says.

“Prove it.” Kris crosses his arms, sitting down as he watches Baekhyun take out a pocket watch.

“This side will take me back to Luhan, and this side will take me here—to EXO Planet.”

“Tell me about Earth,” Kris asks. So Baekhyun tells him about trains and cars and college and technology. Kris seems rapidly fascinated about the idea of sports like basketball and actually playing those things to get paid. They sit there for another hour, talking about the rules of basketball until Chanyeol bursts through the shrubs.

“We have to go now,” Chanyeol says hurriedly, “the guards are here.”

They run, faintly hearing the sound of guards chasing them. Two of their voices sound familiar and they definitely can recognize Kris and Chanyeol anywhere.

“Baekhyun, do that thing you did yesterday,” Chanyeol shouts. Baekhyun flings a hand out in the direction they’re running from, but nothing happens.

“I don’t know how!” Kris mutters curses under his breath when they find themselves at the edge of a cliff. Baekhyun peers down, getting dizzy from the sight. Chanyeol kicks a rock down and watches it tumble.

“We’d die basically.” Kris can’t hold the both of them while flying and even if he tries, he risks letting one of them fall. Then Kris gets an idea.

“Baekhyun, use Luhan’s magic. Get us out of here,” Kris says, motioning for Baekhyun to take out the pocket watch. “Hurry!”

Baekhyun fumbles, not sure if one watch will be able to carry all of them. Chanyeol and Kris hold onto Baekhyun’s shoulder as he flips the watch open.

His stomach feels like it’s lurching up his throat.

÷

  
When Baekhyun opens his eyes, he’s back in a familiar room. The pocket watch on the front side lays broken, minute hand nicking blood from Baekhyun’s hand. There’s a table in the middle of the room but there’s no crackers or tablecloth; Luhan’s probably not expecting guest. Kris and Chanyeol are slumped off to the side, Chanyeol lightly slapping Kris to see if he wakes up. Fishing out crushed crumbs from his pocket, he offers some to Chanyeol.

“I’m not hungry,” Chanyeol says, looking extremely disturbed by the fact that Kris isn’t waking up.

“Kris, I’m going to cut all of Ace’s hair.” The fact that Kris doesn’t even stir has Chanyeol anxious.

“Chanyeol if you don’t then we can’t go see Luhan,” Baekhyun pleads, “Maybe Luhan can help him.”

Then Chanyeol agrees, stuffing crumbs into his mouth for the sake of making sure his friend will be okay. One minute they’re normal sized, and the next they’re not even half the size of Kris’ shoes. Chanyeol claws at his tongue.

“Did you give me lint?” Baekhyun smiles sheepishly, patting a small patch of Kris’ skin with a quick promise of _we’ll be back_.

Fortunately, the door in the table is still there.

“If we’re going to see Luhan, does this mean this is the tree of life,” Chanyeol asks. Baekhyun shrugs, he doesn’t know their fairytales. Entering through the door, Baekhyun can hear Chanyeol say, “What a shitty tree of life.”

Luhan’s standing in the middle of the room, not seeming remotely surprised by the visit. (To be fair, he probably saw it happening anyways.)

“Luhan, we need you to help us. Kris isn’t waking up,” Chanyeol says. Baekhyun adds a quiet _please_.

“Maybe that’s because you did things you probably shouldn’t have done,” Luhan says. Baekhyun can’t quite argue with that.

“Well, how do we wake him up?” Luhan sighs, giving them a mischievous smile.

“Why, true love’s kiss of course.”

“This isn’t Sleeping Beauty,” Baekhyun says. Chanyeol knits his eyebrows, mouthing _Sleeping Beauty?_

“It’s not within my magic to save Kris,” Luhan says. Seeing as how Kris could only fly and Chanyeol could only create fire, Baekhyun can’t say that Luhan could be their miracle worker.

“Okay, but that means someone can... Right?” Luhan moves an orb to the forefront and in it, Baekhyun can see a man watering flowers in a garden.

“He can help you, but he’s not from EXO Planet so you can’t go.” Before Baekhyun can reach out, the orb is no longer within reach.

“Wait, what can I offer you,” Baekhyun begs. And suddenly, the orbs stop moving as Luhan ponders the answer.

“Friendship,” Luhan says. Baekhyun blinks, that was easy.

“I want the friendship you have between Kris and Chanyeol. Give it to me and I will give take you there.” Luhan always manages to get him where it hurts, the most valuable thing that currently belongs to him is that. But if Baekhyun doesn’t save Kris, then what friendship would that be? He promised Kris that he was someone that could be trusted.

Baekhyun says, “Deal,” the same time Chanyeol says, “No deal.” Baekhyun blinks, confused. Chanyeol looks so certain in his answer that it touches Baekhyun. Kris is Chanyeol’s best friend and vice versa, and Baekhyun’s just the new one.

“Kris may be my best friend, but you are too,” Chanyeol says.

“We’ll figure something out,” Chanyeol says.

“There is actually a way,” Luhan says casually, “You have to go see Suho and win him over. If you can do that then you can wake up Sleeping Beauty over there and have your happy ending.”

It seems like Chanyeol knows who Suho is, because his face turns sour.

“Do you know him?” Chanyeol nods.

“It’s the reason Kris ran away from home in the first place.”

÷

  
It turns out that Chanyeol’s distaste for Suho is not enough for him to never go back. Using the pocket watch they teleport back to EXO Planet at the marketplace. The pocket watch is barely holding together, most likely good for only one more turn.

“What do we do now?” Baekhyun feels like the place at his side is empty without Kris. It seems like Chanyeol feels it too, but he tries not to show it.

“We wait,” Chanyeol says, sitting on the ground. Even though it sounds stupid, Chanyeol’s right because the guards find them and take them to the castle without hesitation—the fastest method of going back to the castle. The guards provoke Chanyeol the entire time but Chanyeol doesn’t pay attention to them because he’s a man on a mission. But Baekhyun’s sure once this entire ordeal is done, those guards are going to regret messing with the most hotheaded man in EXO Planet.

“Prince Suho, your guests have arrived.” Suho turns around, a vision of regal beauty with his pale skin and dark hair.

“Chanyeol, I didn’t expect you guys to be ever coming back,” Suho says. Chanyeol’s back is stiff as he bows.

“No, my prince. I did not expect to be coming back so soon either,” Chanyeol says. _Or ever_ Chanyeol whispers under his breath.

“So what brings you here? I hope I’m not getting rejected twice in the same week,” Suho laughs. Baekhyun cringes, bowing awkwardly with Chanyeol.

“Your highness, we need your help. Kris is in trouble and we need to ask Xiumin a question.”

“Why?”

“We need to find someone,” Chanyeol admits. Suho hums, walking over to an intricately framed mirror. A wave of his hand and his reflection disappears and reappears to show a different person.

“Chanyeol, you called? You know you’re only allowed one question per person and you already used that up when you asked if—” Chanyeol coughs loudly, ears turning red. He motions Baekhyun to step closer to the mirror.

“Oh, someone new?” Baekhyun waves shyly.

“How do I find the person that will save Kris?” Xiumin’s face fades out and shows an image of a young male sleeping behind a counter.

“Find him and he will take you to Yixing, the Healer from the Other World.”

“That’s Jongin?” Baekhyun’s face turns sour.

“You know him,” Chanyeol asks.

“Yeah, he’s the reason I met Luhan in the first place. So how do I reach him?” Xiumin smiles apologetically.

“One question per person.” And just like that, Xiumin disappears and Suho’s reflection comes back.

“Look, I know I caused a lot of grief, but I can help you find Jongin.”

“What would you gain from this?” Suho pauses, a wistful smile on his lips that looks more sad than happy.

“Maybe he would forgive me. It wasn’t my intention to bind him to me. I think we both knew we weren’t soul mates.” But from the look on Suho’s face, maybe that’s something he’s trying to convince himself.

“He already did,” Chanyeol says. Suho looks relieved but unsurprised. Kris is kind.

Suho tells them to challenge Jongin to a game he thinks he will win. What better game to challenge a teleporter than to a game of teleportation? It’s crazy and that’s why it will work. The challenge has to be accepted at Kyungsoo’s Tavern, where Jongin will appear without fail every solar eclipse. The solar eclipse doesn’t happen too often but when it does, Jongin will jump through many worlds at the height of his powers to check in on them but he will always end the day at Kyungsoo’s Tavern in EXO Planet. It just so happens that today happens to land on a solar eclipse.

“Let me give you some pieces of advice before you try to find him though. Jongin can only teleport when he can concentrate on the place that he’s teleporting to and he has a clear mental image of the place. The farther the distance, the longer it takes—even if it’s not very long at all for him. He also can’t teleport with more than one person. And if he’s carrying extra weight, it’s only inevitable that his teleportation speed goes down too. Once the eclipse is over, he won’t be able to carry more than himself into different worlds, so it _has_ to be today.”

“How do you know so much?” Suho’s eyes twinkle.

“Shouldn’t I know my little brother best?”

÷

  
Two hours later, Baekhyun stands with Chanyeol just outside the inn. They catch Jongin as he appears in a puff of gray wisps. Jongin seems startled when Chanyeol and Baekhyun grab at his wrists.

“We’ve got you now,” Chanyeol says.

“I see what’s going on. I don’t have money on me though, Kyungsoo gives me meals for free.”

“I want to challenge you to a game,” Baekhyun says seriously. Jongin blinks twice before his brain catches up.

“Go on.”

The game is that Jongin has to teleport with Chanyeol to the center of the forest and come back within one minute. It’s a bit of a stretch but Chanyeol has rocks in his clothes and he’s already heavy as hell. Baekhyun has the pocket watch to time Jongin.

“Ready, set, go,” Baekhyun says and all that’s left is a cloud of smoke. The thing about magic—at least in Baekhyun’s world—is that it’s not really magic. A magician is just a fancy word for a deceiver with tricks up his sleeve. Baekhyun tampers with the watch, setting it a minute and a half forward in time.

Jongin appears ten seconds later, and Baekhyun shows him the watch with a sly smile on his face. Jongin frowns, kicking Chanyeol’s shin. No matter how closely he looks at the watch, it says he loses the game. He mutters about how he should have agreed to pick Baekhyun up instead.

“Alright, here are my conditions: One, I will not carry more than one person at once. Two, I will only carry one person for one trip and one trip only. Magic is like energy, and I’ve already used it more than I thought I would today.”

“Please take Kris to Yixing, and if you can, please give this to them.” Baekhyun hands Jongin the pocket watch, watching him disappear.

Now is supposed to be the scary revelation that Baekhyun’s never going to be able to go home. The thing is that Baekhyun knows he won’t be able to go back home anymore but he doesn’t feel sad like he thought he would.

÷

Half an hour later, Kris and Yixing come lurching toward the marketplace. This time, Kris comes back thankfully conscious. The first thing Kris does is march up to Baekhyun and ask him, “Why?”

Baekhyun shrugs, an easy smile on his lips. “I wanted to do it, so I did.”

“You know if you ever want to go back, you have to wait until the next solar eclipse right?” Baekhyun smiles distantly.

“What do you mean, Kris? Baekhyun is one of us now,” Chanyeol says, “Don’t you remember?”

Of course Kris remembers, but Kris also remembers that Baekhyun has an actual life.

“Chanyeol, Baekhyun’s not from here.”

“So what? He’s our friend now,” Chanyeol says. Baekhyun has to grip onto Chanyeol’s hand before he can flip out.

“Wait, shouldn’t I decide since it’s _my_ life?” They quiet down at Baekhyun’s outburst.

“I know I’m not from here, but I feel like I _belong_ here. I feel more whole than I had before I came. I wasn’t happy before, but I am now—so if it’s okay with everyone, I-I’d like to stay here?”

Kris wavers, finally giving in to Baekhyun’s nervous smile. “It’s not like we have a choice.”

÷

Two days later, it is announced that Prince Kris is getting married to a foreigner named Yixing, who has the power to heal people in need—it’s quite fitting of a member of the royal family to be able to do something for their kingdom and Yixing is welcomed warmly.

Prince Suho leaves the castle and goes back to his own estate, giving Prince Kris his best regards. “I should like to think that Prince Chen had some interest in me. Maybe I should pay him a visit.”

“A _little_ interest?” Suho smiles winningly.

Chanyeol is named Chief of the Royal Guards, a big step up from being the town hooligan.

÷

One year later, it is announced the Royal Couple has an heir named Taozi, and he has a godfather named Byun Baekhyun, Magician of Light and Best Friend of the Chief of the Royal Guards and King Kris. Baekhyun’s gift to Tao is not a staff or a toy or even new clothes.

Baekhyun gives Tao a shiny new coin with the promises of a future.


End file.
